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Wednesday, 26 January 2011

I am a huge advocate of equality for everybody regardless of race, gender, sexuality, religion, class ... But *gulp*, I've realised I have my prejudices too. Here goes. *Deep breath* I. am. . . chocolatist. And no, I don't mean that some chocolate is superior to other chocolate - though that is certainly true. Lindt; good. Hershey's; Bad. Nope, what I am trying to say is that I have issues with white chocolate. It's white, chocolate is by definition brown. Issue number 1. It is not made of cocoa, it is made of cocoa butter. The fact that they can even get away with calling it chocolate is beyond me!

This prejudice extends to their use in a moist cakey goodness known as a brownie; or a 'Blondie' as they are known when they're made with white chocolate. However, though I LOVE brownies and don't think Blondies are comparable; I have to admit that when I consider them on their own, instead of comparing them to their darker, richer counterpart, they're actually pretty good. They are essentially dense, white chocolate cakes and although rich in flavour, not overly cloying. The raspberries and clotted cream make it a wonderful summer dessert. I made these as part of a tea-party spread.

I'm not sure what happened when I made this batch but the mixture seemed way too thick which is why I didn't take any photographs. However, the finished blondies were the perfect combination of crispy top layer, and moist, cakey inside. I'll have to make them again at some point and post pictures. In the meantime, give them a go yourself; they're very easy to make!

1 - Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas mark 42 - Grease and flour a 23cm (9in) square cake tin3- In a large bowl, beat together the butter and caster sugar4 - Beat in the eggs, one at a time5 - Stir in the flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder and mix well until combined6 - Stir in the white chocolate and spoon the mixture into the prepared tin7 - Scatter over the raspberries and bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean8 - Leave to cool completely then cut into squares in the tin9 - Serve with a dollop of clotted cream

Saturday, 22 January 2011

I'm not usually one for following the crowd. But this new year, I'm jumping on probably the biggest bandwagon there is. You know, that one that comes round once a year (maybe twice if you count pre-summer), right at the beginning of the year, straight on the heels of Christmas excesses. Yup, that's right, I am going on a diet! I have Christmas and two weeks in Lagos straight after, gorging on all the foods I love, to blame.

My diet of choice is Weight Watchers, which I'm constantly touting as the best diet around. There's no self deprivation, or cutting out entire food groups. Instead, with a daily point value, it just teaches you how to make healthier food choices so you can get the most for your points. Don't worry, though, this does not mean I'm going to stop baking all the other fattening stuff! Thanks to the new WW ProPoints system, I have an extra allowance each week, which I'll spend some having a slice or portion of the stuff I bake! However, I'll also be experimenting with healthier recipes so bear with me my anti-diet readers, there will be plenty for you too!

First up are these muffins. I can't lie, these do taste like diet muffins but they're tasty, filling make a good and healthy substitute for a muffin breakfast or in place of your afternoon cake. I believe that there are low-fat muffin recipes out there that are tastier than this, but these were a good start.

Thursday, 13 January 2011

Happy New Year everyone!! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas
and a slightly more eventful New Year’s Eve than I did. I fell asleep at 11pm
on the 31st so I slept right through the countdown and all the
fireworks. As a result, the fact that it is a new year hasn’t hit me quite yet.
I hope it hits soon!

The last cookies I made on my cookie baking spree are these
Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies and Chocolate Chip
Tea Cookies. I'm not sure why they're called 'Tea' cookies but when they taste
this good, who cares?And I can't
believe it's taken me three whole posts to toot my own horn about how amazingly
all my cookies turned out! Actually, I might have already hinted at how greatI , ahem, I mean, they were, I
can't remember ;) But considering that before that day, any thoughts of cookie
dough (or any kind of dough for that matter) made me break out in a cold sweat,
I was pretty impressed with my efforts! So impressed that I now want to take on
the dough world! On that note, here are my baking resolutions for 2011:

- Bake a pie. I have never baked a pie before but on my list are
Pecan pie, Apple pie and Pumpkin pie.

- Bake more cookies

- Bake more cheesecakes

- Practice decorating layer cakes

Basically there's lots of dough in my future. I can't wait!

These recipes are both fromBrown Eyed
Baker. Learn her name as I'm going to try out a gazillion of her
recipes next year! Till then, I leave you with these.

Peanut Butter
Blossom Cookies

Oh, we don't have Hershey's kisses in England, which is what the original
recipe calls for, so I used Lindt mini chocolate balls. I think they were the
perfect size, and Lindt chocolate is far superior to Hersheys, so I was happy.
But you can use either - or any other chocolate of around that size.

7 - Bake 8-10 minutes or until
lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate kiss into the centre of each cookie;
cookie will crack around edges. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool
completely.